By Mare Allen
I can not believe how quickly the year has gone by for me as President. It has been a wonderful year not only for me but also for the affiliate. We have successfully brought to our members a super Trade show and outstanding Golf Tournament, which I would like to thank both Pancho Hernandez and Tom Smith on all of the effort and hard work that goes into organizing functions like this. Our Satellite Seminars have been informative and educational for all of those who attended. We hope to bring more next year. Pete Petersen has performed a great service for our members in arranging this with the Pima Community College and I thank you both. Pete and Rose Medina work together at our board meetings in getting our minutes typed up accurately and efficiently. Being Secretary for the affiliate before, I know how much work goes into this. I appreciate every thing you both have done for me during my year. This year, Scott Oldendorph "Programs" Chair and Pete Burgard the "Educational Resources" Chair have given us a lot to think about and a lot to work with in our every day business profession.

They did a great job for us and you really have missed out if you did not take advantage in attending the classes and dinner speakers Elliott Chaitt has been an active member of NAPM-SA for many years bringing us countless hours of his time and experience, knowledge and professionalism, which I am very grateful for. The international trading is a very big part of every ones business and if you ever have any questions this is the person who you should seek advice from. Where do I beginning to tell you about Ralph Long? He has helped me in many ways during my year as President. He has been the NAPM-SA backbone when it came to speaking out at the National Council meetings on behalf of our affiliate and in our best interest. Ralph has decided that this year he will step down from the Board and Chair Director to take some time off. This year Ralph did our affiliate a tremendous service in conducting CPM review classes for our members taking their CPM Modules. And because of this, NAPM-SA has added some CPM's to the National totals of Certified Purchasing Managers. My appreciation to Ralph goes beyond any words I could say, but I can only hope that he does decide to return as an active member for our affiliate in the future. Tom Smith and I have spent a lot of time with getting our membership roster updated and invoicing on some kind of an accurate schedule. Recruiting members and maintaining the existing is not an easy task, but Tom makes this seem like it's his second job, which it probably is. Only this one he doesn't get paid for it and he still smiles while doing it. Thanks for making my job a lot easier as Treasury. Our two newest Board of Directors, Mack Skeen and Julie Cooper traveled long distances twice a month from the BioSphere II, in Oracle, AZ. Their new ideas and opinions in the decision making this year were not only helpful but also always welcomed with appreciation. Julie you really did a wonderful job arranging both the Doubletree and Viscount Suites for our dinners and events. Next year you'll be an old pro at it. Many thanks to Joe Herber, who graciously stepped in for a Board of Director that, needed to take a leave unexpectedly. For that I do appreciate your consideration in helping out the affiliate in their time of need. Last but not least my hat goes off to the two guys that have spent a lot of time putting together our Newsletter. I think Pete Petersen and Pancho Hernandez has developed an outstanding format in bring our members the necessary information, with outlines and details. Sure some one might think it could be better, but to those I say, "please come, get involved with it next year and help to better it. I guess I've taken up most of the Newsletter space for our last issue this year 1999-2000. I've never been known to have very little to say about things. I hope I haven't missed any one with all the thanks and appreciation I have towards these fine people and working with you all this year. I really want to extend my warmest welcome to our newly elected Directors, Julie Cooper, Linda Dittmer and Myles Zimmerman. I'm sure you will enjoy your term, the experience you'll receive and all the many people you will become involved with and get to know as friends. And to our members, I hope you have a very happy, safe and cool summer, and hope to see some new faces next year coming to our meetings and always the return of those friendly familiar ones. Yes, even yours Ralph!!

Mare Allen, NAPM-SA/President & Treasury

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Company ________________________________________________________________________________

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DNA's CORNER

By Ralph L. Long, C.P.M
I received a friendly reminder this morning that my article is due for the NAPM-SA newsletter. There hasn't been much news on the DNA the Summer Workshops. The reminder did bring to mind the extra ordinary effort a few members have extended toward making the past year in NAPM-SA a great success. Mary has over extended herself in making the overall operation of the Board and monthly meeting the best, most efficient and educational as possible. If you haven't noticed she has been the President and Treasurer. Both individually very big jobs. Pete and Pancho have pushed and pulled all the right places to produce an outstanding newsletters. They spent lots of time each month putting together the best newsletter in the District. Scott is another behind the scene member that has spend loads of time talking to potential speakers. He put together a great season of educational and entertaining speakers again. Tom is one member who's efforts makes many of the benefits possible by putting together the annual golf tournament and making a big contribution in to money and positive publicity. These individuals plus several others willingly volunteer their time to make NAPM-SA the very best professional organization possible. Take a few minutes to thank these folks and the next time you're asked to volunteer give it a second thought. On a personal note, thank you for all your support over the past years I've had a ball, learned a lot and appreciated all the friendships. See you at the June dinner meeting.

Satellite Seminar              Jun 8, 2000
"Cost Reduction and Cost Avoidance Strategies and Opportunities"

NAPM Dinner Meeting    Jun 14, 2000

C.P.M. Review Class Jun 17, 2000
"Module Three"

July and August Summer Break

SEPTEMBER DINNER MEETING Sept 13,2000

By Elliott Chaitt
All too frequently companies desiring to source globally but with no experience in dealing with overseas suppliers make some bad decisions. They assume that a foreign source is the same as a domestic source except with a "foreign accent." They fail to realize that doing business in the global marketplace is unlike doing business at home.

There are several routes open to the company that wishes to source a product offshore. For example, an item that is fully designed and has been produced in the U.S. could be a candidate for global sourcing, but there are better methods for doing this then attempting to deal directly with the foreign supplier.

Often overlooked is the first and easiest method, which is to determine if the candidate source has a U. S. representative. After wasting time and effort attempting to contact the foreign source directly, some sourcing activities find that a local representative of the foreign source maintains a fully staffed sales and technical staff. Usually these are American personnel who can provide assistance in introducing the product into a foreign manufacturing environment and handle the importation of the finished product.

A second approach is the employment of an overseas representative to handle the sourcing. Such a representative is usually an individual or company located in the "target" country specializing in sourcing within a specific area, such as the electronics industry. Key to the success of allying with an overseas representative is to locate a representative with the required experience and expertise. Of equal importance is the matter of objectivity. Care must be taken to ensure that the representative is totally unbiased and not favoring a particular source for personal reasons. It is best to require that the representative offer a list of several suitable sources with the pro's and con's of each together with their proposed pricing and the total landed cost of the product at your designated destination.

One of the main benefits of using such a representative is that the sourcing can be accomplished must faster due to familiarity with the country, its language and culture.

Depending on the representative's knowledge of and experience with the supplier, a trip to the foreign country may be unnecessary. Also, the representative may perform many logistics functions and services such as quality inspections and control, arranging for exportation from the foreign country, transportation and importation into the United States.

A disadvantage of using an overseas representative is that the price you will pay for your product will be higher by the amount of the representative's commission or fee. The size of the fee will depend on the extent of the services you may ask the representative to perform. This fee may be negotiable to some extent. Using an overseas representative may be a disadvantage if the long-term objective of the U.S. firm is to develop its own global sourcing capability. However, if the proper rapport is developed with the representative it is possible to learn much about the intricacies of global sourcing which could enhance the ability for direct sourcing overseas.

Judy E. Auwerter University of Arizona
 Buyer

Martha H. Bolt Raytheon Systems
 Senior Subcontract Mgr.

Timothy Gibney University of Arizona
 Asst. Director-Procurement & Contracting Services

Patsy Kent Grainger Intergrated Supply
 Purchasing Agent

Patti A. Lee C & D Technologies
 Buyer/Planner

George L. Widugiris,C.P.M. Phelps Dodge Mining Co
 Strategic Sourcing Mgr.